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Louisiana woman charged with pocketing $1.2m bank error in her favor

JacksinPA

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  • Kelyn Spadoni arrested after pocketing $1.2m deposited in error

  • Spadoni bought house and car with money from brokerage firm


A Louisiana woman experienced what for many would have been a dream come true: Over $1.2m randomly appeared in her bank account one day in February.

Kelyn Spadoni used the fast-acting skills she developed as a 911 dispatcher and quickly purchased a house and a car within a day of the money appearing in her account. Now Spadoni’s brokerage firm, Charles Schwab, wants the money back, arguing the cash was put into her account accidentally, the result of a software glitch.

The company said it meant to transfer $82.56 into Spadoni’s account with Fidelity Brokerage Services. Instead, they ended up transferring $1,205,619.

Charles Schwab is taking Spadoni to court for refusing to return the money to the compan
y saying that Spadoni signed their client contract that says clients must return an overpayment of funds in full. The company says Spadoni ignored multiple calls, texts and emails from the company requesting the money’s return.
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She sure acted quickly, probably before she had time to realize what she was doing.
 
  • Kelyn Spadoni arrested after pocketing $1.2m deposited in error

  • Spadoni bought house and car with money from brokerage firm


A Louisiana woman experienced what for many would have been a dream come true: Over $1.2m randomly appeared in her bank account one day in February.

Kelyn Spadoni used the fast-acting skills she developed as a 911 dispatcher and quickly purchased a house and a car within a day of the money appearing in her account. Now Spadoni’s brokerage firm, Charles Schwab, wants the money back, arguing the cash was put into her account accidentally, the result of a software glitch.

The company said it meant to transfer $82.56 into Spadoni’s account with Fidelity Brokerage Services. Instead, they ended up transferring $1,205,619.

Charles Schwab is taking Spadoni to court for refusing to return the money to the compan
y saying that Spadoni signed their client contract that says clients must return an overpayment of funds in full. The company says Spadoni ignored multiple calls, texts and emails from the company requesting the money’s return.
===========================================================
She sure acted quickly, probably before she had time to realize what she was doing.
Instead of immediately putting it into obvious assets, she should have withdrawn and hid it all. Then negotiated a 10% "finders fee" for the return of the balance.
 
  • Kelyn Spadoni arrested after pocketing $1.2m deposited in error

  • Spadoni bought house and car with money from brokerage firm


A Louisiana woman experienced what for many would have been a dream come true: Over $1.2m randomly appeared in her bank account one day in February.

Kelyn Spadoni used the fast-acting skills she developed as a 911 dispatcher and quickly purchased a house and a car within a day of the money appearing in her account. Now Spadoni’s brokerage firm, Charles Schwab, wants the money back, arguing the cash was put into her account accidentally, the result of a software glitch.

The company said it meant to transfer $82.56 into Spadoni’s account with Fidelity Brokerage Services. Instead, they ended up transferring $1,205,619.

Charles Schwab is taking Spadoni to court for refusing to return the money to the compan
y saying that Spadoni signed their client contract that says clients must return an overpayment of funds in full. The company says Spadoni ignored multiple calls, texts and emails from the company requesting the money’s return.
===========================================================
She sure acted quickly, probably before she had time to realize what she was doing.
Nice mistake to see, but smart money waits a month or two to see if it gets noticed before claiming the money as your own.

Before marriage, my wife had a $12K mistake in her favor appear on her statement. I told her to hold tight. Sure enough, the bank noticed it in about three weeks. Poof! The money disappeared as fast as it arrived.
 
Nice mistake to see, but smart money waits a month or two to see if it gets noticed before claiming the money as your own.

Before marriage, my wife had a $12K mistake in her favor appear on her statement. I told her to hold tight. Sure enough, the bank noticed it in about three weeks. Poof! The money disappeared as fast as it arrived.

You really don't want to do anything that could look like you are trying to keep it....
 
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Too many rounds of Monopoly?
 
It's a good thing I'm not an attorney because this sort of error burns my ass.
(Know what else burns my ass? A flame about three feet high)

This person did not trick Schwab into mistakenly putting too much money in her account, she didn't coerce them either.
Yes, they have a clause about returning overpayments, which arguably is construed as some kind of attempt to dismiss their own responsibility for their own mistakes.
That, in my humble opinion, is not an enforceable contract, because it demands that the signatory offer an opinion as to Schwab's expertise, ethics and capabilities as if stated from the view of an employee, which would make this lady an UNPAID Schwab employee.
Don't tell ME, the CLIENT, that I am ultimately responsible for YOUR mistakes.

On the other hand, she knows that she did not earn a million bucks all of a sudden.
She should have done "the right thing" and reported it to Schwab using a "something's wrong" header of some kind.|
And had she, Schwab should reward her.
But alas, she did not do the right thing.
 
Instead of immediately putting it into obvious assets, she should have withdrawn and hid it all. Then negotiated a 10% "finders fee" for the return of the balance.

You'd never hear from me again. She should have gone directly to the airport. Don't get caught with over $10K if you're leaving the country.
 
You'd never hear from me again. She should have gone directly to the airport. Don't get caught with over $10K if you're leaving the country.


....and immediately leave everything and everyone in your life behind to live in a non-extradition country, where maybe you don't even speak the language?
 
I would have bought a bunch of bit coins.
 
Back in the 80's my bank accidentally put $6 million into my account on a Friday. They discovered the mistake that following Monday.
I was totally unaware of it until they sent me a statement explaining the mistake.
If I had used the ATM machine during that weekend I would have been shocked to see all those zeroes.
But as they say, Easy Come, Easy Go.
 
You really don't want to do anything that could look like you are trying to keep it....
Correct, best is to do nothing, pretend like you didn't notice, and be sure not to text or email anyone about it. If a few months go by with no change in status, quietly move the money to another account and continue to wait. If the year end audit doesn't catch it, you're probably in the clear.

If the sum is small enough, you can probably get away with saying your never noticed, even if the bank finally catches on. If the sum is millions...you won't get away with it no matter what. There are too many checks and balances out there keeping tabs on money like that.
 
She is most likely going to have to return the money but I would imagine this is a civil matter and she can tie it up in court for months. She could use their money to make some scratch or use it as collateral to get a bank loan and invest that money into something.

She could also offer to give the money back without a fight for a 10% cut.

She has options once the money is in her possession. Its not exactly ethical to do those things but its not illegal either.

Even if left the country as someone suggested I don't think they could do much about it if its not a criminal matter. I think it would only become a crime if the court told her to return the money and she refused.

The best outcome for both sides is to pick a reasonable number and settle.
 
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